so very fun!!

This is just so fun.

THE coolest and most exciting thing!

You know Nick's girlfriend, Sarah?

Well, she bought her prom dress at Dillard's department store,

and they told her that they had a contest going

where girls post pictures of themselves with their prom dress on onto their website.

(Actually, I think it was sponsored by Seventeen Magazine.)

Anyway, then people go on and vote for their favorite dress.

SO, Sarah was all over that and got busy encouraging people to vote for her.

And guess what!

SHE WON! 

And guess what!

The BIG prize was,

a $5,000 gift card to Dillard's!!!!

Is that not the funnest thing ever?!!

And she's already been shopping with it.

Here's part of her loot:

Don't you just love it?

She bought mostly household things for her future home.

Oh my word, I love me some practical things for the kitchen!

And she still has a lot yet to spend.

That's just fun!

She also won a limo ride to prom and the full works getting her hair done.

(I'm talking, color, cut, hair extensions, and updo!)

So very fun.

And prom is THIS Saturday.

So very fun, fun, fun!!

So sorry...no pics of the winner's expression!
She was at her house when she was notified, not mine.

Easters!

Happy Easter, friends!

It was a GREAT day here on the homestead.

Lots of fun, and drama.

(Lest, the lack of pictures of certain people.)

(Don't ask.)

Lucy and Isaiah.

And Isaiah's tie.

And my 7th child, Sarah (Nick's girlfriend, who is highly photogenic and adorable.)

 And here's a great shot of Nick and me.

 Sarah and her FIVE babies.

(You'll remember that we started with THREE.  Then she asked for two more.  And I said yes.)

The little man.

Oh my goodness gracious, talk about photogenic.

I hope your Easter was fabulous day, too!

JESUS IS ALIVE, friends!

prom [teenage-boy torture]

Nick was informed that it was "the thing" to do to ask

your girlfriend to the prom in a creative way.

(He just loved the thought of that!)

He knew Sarah has really wanted some baby chicks...

so here's what he did:

Adorable, right?

Earlier today as he was making this very creative and poetic sign,

Lucy asked him what prom was.

Nick said,

"It's a way to torture teenage boys."

But, for teenage girls, it's THE greatest thing ever.

And Sarah was SO TICKLED by Nick's means of invitation.

Ridiculously tickled!

Oh, the things we do for love.

please consider...

Hey, guys!

Would you please skip on over to my
dear, dear, dear
friend, Sarah's blog...

**Uganda Considered**

She is getting ready to go to Uganda with
the Saunders' crew and
she could sure use some help with fund raising.

She is such a darling girl who loves Jesus so much!
Please consider helping her a big, would you?

Thank you!!

sweet friends

Yesterday one of my most favorite girls came to visit!
Sarah is seriously the coolest gal,
who is wise beyond her years,
loves Jesus like you wouldn't believe,
and is just so darn cute!!

She is here for a visit from Florida and
came over to our house to get a few highlights/lowlights
and a little trim.

It turned into an all-day extravaganza.
After I did her hair we went
to run errands.....

including, going to the beauty supply.
Sigh.
I had imagined Brenden and Nick staying in the
car while Lucy, Sarah and I shopped alone
looking at all the fun stuff.

But no....my guys insisted on going in
and as you can imagine,
the *fun* then played out....

Brenden caught in an endearing embrace.

And here he found some new bling...
aka, a nail polish sampler.
Do you see what I'm up against here?

When they team up,
it's time to really start worrying.

The last few pics were taken from my cell phone.
They are fuzzy only because I was laughing
so hard & couldn't keep my hand still!

After we escaped the beauty supply alive (oh, and
trust me, Sarah was right in the mix of the
boys' shenanagans...I just somehow didn't
get a pic. Lucy was the only one who behaved),
we went to the DMV.
I INSISTED that they all stay in the car.
When I was finished with my business,
and came outside...
my van was parked on the other side of the parking lot.
Of course it was. I expected nothing less.

Then we went to Hobby Lobby and Brenden
insisted on spending the last $3 to his
name on a slinky.

Back at home...
Brenden showing off his new toy.
Can someone remind me how old this
kid is??

Then it was outside to ride scooters.
Why, of course.
No, Brenden isn't being a good lad
and sweeping up anything...
this was his "rowing" device.

There simply aren't any words
for this.

Sweet friends!

We had a super fun day.

Our Blog Date

Well, let me tell you....we had the best time with Jean and her family!! If you follow her blog (no? Oh my goodness....you must!), you already know how sweet she is by reading her posts. And I'm here to say that she is every bit as sweet and genuine as what you read. We really clicked and I think that we could have talked for hours & hours.

I promised Jean I would airbrush our photos but....I didn't get to it.
Jean's Florida tan annoyed me all evening (JK!!) :)

Jean and her ADORABLE daughter Sarah (who has only been home FOUR MONTHS!!)
Two of the cutest YOUNG ladies I know!

Lucy, Anna and Sarah REALLY hit it off!
Sarah is quite the chatter box, which I found incredibly charming!
Her English is INCREDIBLE!!! We were all shocked.
AND, she showed off her amazing math skills....she has a very, very
gifted teacher (Her Mama, who homeschools her!!)

Look at these super-models! Gorgeous.

Anna and Lucy are both 3 years old and
quickly formed a sweet friendship. Aren't they so cute?!!

All the grown-ups (including our reluctant husbands who think we are crazy....
though they had fun too...or so it seemed). What you can't see here
is three Chinese girls running around the restaurant as
we worked hard for a decent picture!

Well, that's two for two. We hit it off with Linn and her family and now Jean & her crew! I think we are onto something....Maybe we will start our own "blog dating service"!!!


**Brenden & Nick were also with us but I didn't get any pics of them (bad Mama). Hopefully Jean will post some good ones!

Always Thankful and Learning to Knit

I first heard of Thankful Thursdays from Denise, long before I had a blog of my own...and was a only a lurker. Then, once I did have my own blog, Linn spurred me on to take a day to list things to be thankful for, which I did for a while but quite frankly, I just never remember. But I'm certainly thankful EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! I may not publicly put it out there but my Great God certainly knows that I pray prayers of thanksgiving all the time so I guess that's what matters, right? But, I will try to do better and make my lists here also.

All that to say that I am thankful for a wonderful Thursday evening with a few super fun friends!! My dear friend Kimberly started a knitting class at our church. And I, being VERY talented (not), figured I could learn this skill easy enough (actually, I wasn't at all confident). I have no doubt that Kimberly woke up this morning with a knitting-teacher-hangover, mainly due to ME!! After a lot of laughs and near-tears attempts (and A LOT OF one-on-one time w/ Kim), I kind of got the hang of it. Though after my first row, my thingys were so tight that I couldn't get my second row started....so Kimberly came to my rescue and told me that this clearly indicated that I am too high-strung. True, very true. So, I'm trying to loosen up, both in knitting and life.

This morning I decided to pull out my knitting project (a felt purse) and for the life of me couldn't remember how to do it. Kim, I told you that would happen. I will make another attempt later. But I will likely need private tutoring on this. My good friend Martha also knits so hopefully, if I surround myself with knit-heads (ok, that's a whole other meaning than intended), I will get this purse done if it kills me.

I'm also so thankful that yesterday I got a call from our Senator's office saying they were making phone calls on our behalf regarding our I800A application at immigration!! Yippee!! Movin' right along!!

Oh, I almost forgot! Please go to my sweet friend (and future daughter-in-law) Sarah's blog! She is such a fun writer and always has great insight...and a quirky sense of humor, which I LOVE!!

**I don't know for certain that Sarah is my future DIL...just hoping. Though after this, she will likely block me from her blog & never speak to me again! :)